


without an incentive

by myrnin



Series: Jonah Magnus Week [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Jonah Magnus Week, M/M, and some spilled tea, jonah swears he isn't soft, lazy morning routine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:34:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24743164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrnin/pseuds/myrnin
Summary: A quick look into a shared morning between Jonah and Barnabas. As sweet as it can be when it involves Jonah, anyway.
Relationships: Barnabas Bennett/Jonah Magnus
Series: Jonah Magnus Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789243
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	without an incentive

**Author's Note:**

> a REALLY quick work written in like an hour for jonah magnus week. im uploading a bunch of my jonah fics at once too so this is very convenient timing

The sight of Barnabas Bennett, sprawled out on his bed and drooling slightly, illuminated by the morning sun, should not be in any way endearing, and yet, Jonah finds himself studying the finer details of his face, the upturned nose smattered with freckles and the mess of hair half-covering his closed eyes. The setting is far too serene, too calm for a man like Jonah who finds himself rather quickly turning away from any such situations like this, filled with too much familiarity and comfort. Settling in is a dangerous thing, one that invites other distractions, all detrimental to any actual progress. He feels his mouth twitch downwards and yet he finds himself rooted in place, sitting up and committing every detail of this scene to memory. 

They rarely find themselves spending the night together; after all, Jonah is a busy man and Barnabas has his own affairs to be taking care of. It is even an uncommon occasion that they spend more than a few hours together, their businesses and travels separating them far more often than either would find agreeable. Their passions tend to be poured over into whatever letters they may send each other, in which they are assured no eyes but their own will ever get to read the contents. And as promised, Jonah keeps all of those letters locked away in his study, preserved and treated with the utmost care.

As soon as Barnabas stirs, Jonah is snapped out of his musings and he turns away, setting his feet down on the cold floor. He hears the man mumbling something behind him and yawning and to that accompaniment, he swiftly gets out of their shared (at least for this one night) bed and draws the curtains fully open. His eyes narrowed, he looks out over the yard, mentally taking a note to remind Barnabas to finally employ a proper gardener who will not slack off in the same way that the current one does. It makes for quite an eyesore and really, the only reason he’s still employed is due to Bennett’s general distaste for most direct confrontation. 

“Jonah… Must you be so quick to get out of bed? One would think you cannot wait to be out of here,” at that, Jonah turns around and meets Barnabas’ squinted eyes, who just happens to be mid-yawn. He’s still laying down, taking quite a long time to stretch and looking far from ready to face the day. There’s a gentle smile on his face as his gaze follows Jonah around the room, who’s laying out both of their clothes to be prepared.

“Do you not trust me to take care of myself, dear?”, there’s a quiet, fond laugh bubbling up in Barnabas’ throat as he finally catches Jonah’s attention whose head whips up in surprise at the comment, eyes slightly wide as though he took the accusation seriously for a split second. His posture relaxes almost right away and he holds Barnabas’ stare, a small but matching smirk blooming on his face. Their shirts are laid out carefully across the vanity and right after, Jonah walks over to the other man’s side of the bed and leans in. Expecting a kiss, Barnabas is quite confused when he closes his eyes again and all he’s met with is a flick to his ear.

“Ouch! Whatever have I done to deserve that?”, his tone of voice is exaggeratingly hurt, his hand shooting up on instinct to rub at his assaulted ear.

“You will _never_ get out of bed without an incentive, Barnabas. I know that all too well,” and though his expression remains as controlled and neutral as usual, there’s a sweet hint to his voice that makes a warmth spread out in Barnabas’ chest.

Still, he watches as Jonah turns on his heel and gets dressed, admires the build of his body and though he does not speak his thoughts aloud, he’s certain that Jonah is aware of the admiration and near-worship in his gaze as he preens and fixes his posture. There is a teasing comment about Jonah’s vanity in the back of Barnabas’ mind but he bites it back, fully aware the man’s retort will reference all the other times he had compared him to paintings, statues, enchanting compositions. Such is the price of singing his praises - being fully aware that each muttered compliment, each loving look will always be met with nothing but a self-assured smile and half-lidded eyes, a stinging reminder that there are few accolades that Jonah has not heard yet.

As Barnabas’ mind wanders, the silence filling the bedroom is far from stifling, Jonah finding it quite comfortable to prepare himself under the watchful gaze of another, fully aware of each of his movements and the image they paint. He lets himself enjoy the moment, knowing that soon enough they will have to part ways with the amount of books he is supposed to receive and flick through before his next meeting with Smirke. An exciting venture, if not time-consuming. Eventually, he wanders downstairs, mind occupied with pondering the topic of his new research and barely acknowledging Barnabas’ presence anymore. After seating himself at the dinner table with a cup of tea, he is only pulled out of his thoughts when he hears quick footsteps down the staircase and is greeted with the sight of a questionably ready Barnabas, his hair still sticking out at odd angles.

“I would hope you have not forgotten about me stranded in your bedroom up there!”, he huffs out and strides over to Jonah’s side, taking a sip of his tea and meeting the annoyed raise of his eyebrow with a sweet smile. The man huffs resignedly and stands up.

“What a hurtful accusation, mister Bennett. You make it quite hard to be forgotten,” and despite the accusatory tone, he loops his arms around Barnabas’ neck, silently noting the way it makes the man almost melt as all tension drains out of his shoulders. He places a chaste kiss against his forehead and tries to pull away but is quickly stopped by Barnabas’ hands placed firmly on his hips.

“Ah, mister Magnus, who would have thought you so unostentatious? Is there truly a task so urgent that makes you this eager to leave?”, but he doesn’t give him a chance to respond and he kisses Jonah properly now, one hand squeezing tighter on his hip as he licks into his mouth, savoring the feeling of the other man’s lips falling open just as eagerly despite his appearances. Moments like these, where Barnabas gets to see the proper and uncaring mask of Jonah fall away, are something he holds very dear to his heart. In his enthusiasm, he pushes Jonah up against the table and their kiss is interrupted by the clink of a teacup tipping over and spilling. 

“Really, Barnabas?”, Jonah furrows his brows as he looks at the mess.

“I swear I will clean it later, dear. Now…”, he kisses the shorter man again, this time with much more feeling and presses his knee between his legs, smiling earnestly against his mouth when he feels a shiver run through Jonah. There’s a cruel hand tangling itself in his hair and he leaves kisses from Jonah’s jaw down to his neck, carefully nuzzling his nose against his neatly tucked cravat. He barely notices the other man’s breath pick up and with that wordless approval, he finds one of his hands making quick work of his breeches and just as Jonah murmurs his name under his breath, he sinks down to his knees.

And so, only after Barnabas has properly bid his goodbye does Jonah realize the spilled tea remained uncleaned.

**Author's Note:**

> find me @ blitzstones.tumblr.com or @ discord on chuuya#5158  
> send me jonah prompts i've got. a whole lot of thoughts


End file.
